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Men's Football Allardyce trusts his Everton players to use social media correctly

EVERTON’S players should not need reminding of their responsibilities on social media, manager Sam Allardyce said today.

Toffees defender Mason Holgate could face a Football Association charge for alleged homophobic tweets sent from a now deleted Twitter account more than five years ago.

The governing body is aware of three tweets the 21-year-old apparently sent in 2012 and 2013, aged 15 when he was a member of Barnsley's youth set-up, that contain pejorative terms for gay men. Holgate joined Everton in 2015.

Asked if he was aware the FA was looking into the posts, Allardyce said: "In terms of awareness, yes.

"In terms of when it happened years ago, he's fully aware and doesn't need to be reminded of the situation because they already know.

"Because we go through meeting after meeting, all areas, through the FA, through the PFA (Professional Footballers Association) on what to do and what not to do.

"This is a historical tweet from years ago, so he doesn't need any reminding because all the players have already been made aware for more than this year.

"I think it's been going on for years that we've been pointing out to players what they do and what they don't do.

"It's not in my hands whatever the situation is now, but we will find out if and when what the course of action is."

The FA is already investigating Holgate's claim he was racially abused by Liverpool's Roberto Firmino after the pair clashed in last week's FA Cup tie at Anfield.

Holgate's Twitter account was deactivated after screen grabs of the tweets were circulated in the wake of his allegations against Firmino.